Eugeo found it difficult to envision this clock’s form, but he felt like he understood what the knights’ commander was saying. The power from the sword’s swing could pierce through time and hold its place. With that ability, there was no need at all to chain multiple slashes together, like the Aincrad style. And the only reason that a combination attack needed to be combined was to lengthen the time of the attack without having to recover and refocus. If Bercouli’s sword had both the power of a singular attack and the striking accuracy of a combination, it was basically invincible—as long as you were within its range.
As Bercouli himself had said so poetically, there was only one way to counteract it: fight not with time but with the expanse of space.
But no sooner had the thought occurred to Eugeo than the knight grinned. “And now you think you must attack from a distance. They all do after they see my technique.”
Eugeo felt a twinge of panic at being read so easily, but there was no stopping the chant now. He might be able to predict that Eugeo would attempt a long-range attack, but he wouldn’t know what kind of attack.
Whether aware of Eugeo’s internal logic or not, the commander shrugged and said, “The fact that all the Integrity Knights who were summoned after me, including Fanatio and Alice, have a tendency to choose long-range Perfect Control, probably has something to do with seeing what I can do…I suspect. They’re all very stubborn in that way, you see. But let me be clear that I’ve never lost a sparring match with any of them. I told them that if they ever beat me, I’ll make them the commander on the spot. One day, little Alice might find a way to beat me. In short, I’m looking forward to this. I want to see what your sword can do, if it really did knock them out left and right.”
“…You sound very confident.”
Eugeo had finished chanting the bulk of his sacred arts a few seconds earlier. But something about the intense concentration coupled with his nerves allowed him to murmur the statement without losing the stocked magic.
So Bercouli was admitting that his long speech was meant to give Eugeo time to exhibit his most powerful ability. He knew that whatever it was, he could overcome it the first time he saw it.
And frustrating as it was to admit, even if he could capture Bercouli with the vines of ice roses, Eugeo had zero confidence that he could deplete the man’s life. It was a technique designed to stop movement, after all. And that surely wouldn’t be entirely effective against him, either. At best, it might stop him cold for a couple of seconds. How he used that brief moment would determine the battle’s outcome.
Eugeo rose from the bath, water cascading from his body. Just rising the three steps to the marble walkway caused the wound on his chest to throb painfully. He wouldn’t have the strength to heal the next attack.
“Heh! Come for me, boy. And let me warn you: I won’t go easy on the next one.”
He squeezed the hilt of the Time-Splitting Sword tucked into the sash of his kimono and chuckled. On the walkway twenty mels away, Eugeo brandished the Blue Rose Sword in front of him. With the art on standby, the blade was already coated in thin frost, dusting the hovering steam nearby with ice.
Kirito would have a snappy comeback in a situation like this, but Eugeo’s mouth was parched and stiff, unable to work smoothly. He took a deep breath and carefully spoke the activation words for Perfect Weapon Control.
“Enhance…Armament.”
A chilly wind swirled up from his feet and burst in all directions. He flipped his sword around to hold it in reverse and slammed it right into the stone floor. Instantly, the water on the smooth marble froze into a mirror surface. With a sound like a tree splitting apart, the band of ice raced toward Bercouli.
The walkway was five mels across, but the width of the Blue Rose Sword’s ice wave was nearly ten. The water’s surface on either side of the stone developed an icy film, but its spread was weaker and slower, due to the water’s heat. Still, no excuses were possible at this desperate juncture.
Focusing all thoughts into his right hand, Eugeo clenched the sword ever tighter. He roared, and the frosted floor sprouted not vines but sharp thorns. They formed a thick pillar of ice that rippled down the walkway toward Bercouli, vicious glinting spikes covering the entire floor. But the commander merely tightened at the mouth and stayed put, standing in a slight crouch. He had no intention of escaping into the water.
Seeing his opponent stand firm like a fortress, Eugeo realized what he had to do. If he didn’t risk everything in this fight, he would never win.
He pulled the Blue Rose Sword from the floor and raced after the carpet of ice. His moment of opportunity would arise when the dozens of ice spears reached Bercouli.
Naturally, the commander could see Eugeo charging toward him, but he didn’t show the tiniest smidgen of reaction. He simply spread his feet and willed power into the sword at his left side.
“Hrrng!!”
He bellowed and swung. The carpet of ice spears wasn’t yet within range, so the powerful slice cut only empty air—but the Time-Splitting Sword could sever the future.
Craaash!!
Half a second later, the plethora of ice stalagmites burst. Not one made it past the slice that Bercouli placed in front of them. With almost detestable confidence, the commander returned his blade to an upright position to prepare for Eugeo’s follow-up.
But Eugeo had the enemy in his sights now and held his weapon high overhead. The tiny shards of ice floating around it caught the light from the ceiling, fogging his vision, but it affected his foe equally.
“Seyaaa!!”
“Roahh!!”
They roared together. Eugeo’s sword traced a pale-blue line in the air, while Bercouli’s met his with a gray trail behind it.
The next moment, Eugeo’s sword shattered with a thin, tinkling scream.
Bercouli’s eyes widened just a bit, probably because he was taken aback by the lack of resistance. Eugeo hardly felt a thing, either.
But he knew that was coming. Right before his charge, Eugeo had tossed aside the Blue Rose Sword and broken off an icicle to use as a weapon.